The Sega Mega Drive/Genesis Thread (NEW)!!!

[neorichieb1971]

Twinkle Tale looks surprisingly good and my cup of tea so thank you for bringing it to my attention. Do you guys play these through an everdrive, real cart or emulation?

I see you can buy empty clam shells for the games on ebay and such places. Should I worry about having games that don't have the "Sega" trademark on the inside of the clamshell? Would this bother any of you guys?

[Obiwanshinobi]

If you care about just playing the games on SDTV in native resolution, a soft-modded Wii is perfect for the job.

[Squire Grooktook]

I mean it's been many years since I've played these games ... Kiki which I remember having long~ish tedious parts.

Might wanna refresh your memory there. I replayed it recently, and I can't think of a single long or tedious part. Game's pace is breakneck and packed with variety.

I think both games are excellent. Kiki is a little more finnicky given its combination of more demanding challenge + lack of strafe-aim controls (Twinkle has the same problem, but its easier early game + smartly locking aim during boss fights gives it a slight edge in this department). But challenge or no challenge, Kiki does feel like the more substantial, deep (dat reflect mechanic), well designed game IMO.

[Xyga]

Yeah I should replay both sometime...

[BIL]

Twinkle Tale and SFC Kiki are both excellent and actually complement each other's foot-to-the-floor pacing rather well; TT is refreshingly straightforward, Kiki is a bit more involved with its reflect mechanic. Both are absolute must-haves for fans of topdown run and guns, imo.

Should I worry about having games that don't have the "Sega" trademark on the inside of the clamshell? Would this bother any of you guys?

I wouldn't give it a second thought, myself. I guess if it's a particularly desirable game that came in some specific snapcase variant (like some of Taito's? only ones that come to mind atm), that might warrant attention if you're buying/selling. Even then though, I'd swap an expensive game's damaged or stickered snapcase for a clean cheap game's in a second. By far the least of my MD collecting worries.

[CIT]

As far as Japanese releases go, I believe only Taito, Namco, Sunsoft and EA had their own clamshells. There seems to be a bit more variance with Western releases.

[neorichieb1971]

I have a Konami clamshell for Animaniacs, there seems to be an Accollade one in there as well. I don't have any Accollade games though so it must have been switched. Most just have the Sega trademark and some don't have anything at all.

I noticed recently in a youtube that every game the presenter was holding had a brand new clamshell. So I figured it would make my collection look a bit nicer if all the clams were new.

Why do EA games have taller cart dimensions with a yellow bit in middle?

[CIT]

Why do EA games have taller cart dimensions with a yellow bit in middle?

Cuz they're American, so they need to be BIGGER!!!

Codemasters games had interesting proprietary carts as well. Design kinda sucks though.

[Heavy Viper]

The look of EA carts probably came down to EA reverse-engineering the MD at some point. Custom casing to fit their (presumably) unique PCBs. The yellow notch in the side makes it incredibly difficult to open them up without damaging them, which is a pain.

[evil_ash_xero]

Do you guys play these through an everdrive, real cart or emulation?

I try everything out through emulators. After that, I tend to play them on real hardware via EverDrive. I do try to get the carts, when the opportunity and cash is available, but I don't tend to play the actual carts anymore.

[FinalBaton]

Do you guys play these through an everdrive, real cart or emulation

I play all my retro games through real carts/discs at the moment. They are so fascinating and rad to me that owning them is part of the fun. I don't like emulation, it's just not for me. But I won't deny the convenience aspect, plus the money saving aspect.

What I personnally did for dealing with the money aspect is to... well, just ration myself on games. I buy like one game or two every month. No more. I kinda like it this way because it makes me really appreciate what I have and spend a lot of time and love with each game. That's just my mentality.

A flashcart is a great product though, and I very well might pick one up in the future.

[BrianC]

I use flash carts, but I still purchase physical games, as well.

[Heavy Viper]

I use flash carts, but I still purchase physical games, as well.

Ditto. Mainly moving onto collecting select Japanese MD games at this point, because good lord the packaging is beautiful. Even on terrible games sometimes.

[Shoryukev]

I play all my retro games through real carts/discs at the moment. They are so fascinating and rad to me that owning them is part of the fun. I don't like emulation, it's just not for me. But I won't deny the convenience aspect, plus the money saving aspect.

What I personnally did for dealing with the money aspect is to... well, just ration myself on games. I buy like one game or two every month. No more. I kinda like it this way because it makes me really appreciate what I have and spend a lot of time and love with each game. That's just my mentality.

A flashcart is a great product though, and I very well might pick one up in the future.

I do the exact same thing, I collect real carts and just pace myself with one or two purchases a month. I usually give myself an allowance out of every paycheck and either blow it right away or let it build up till I find something big I want.

There are a few exceptions in my case though. Sega Saturn, Dreamcast, and Sega CD I have a mixture of real games and burnt/backup copies. There are some games that I just can't justify the price to myself. The most I ever spent on one game is $220 (Megaman X3 on SNES), and I haven't been able to bring myself to a higher number than that (yet...LOL).

Occasionally I will buy a repro, but only if it's something that was never commercially available in my country (Megaman & Bass SNES, Wily Wars Genesis, just bought a NES repro of Holy Diver this morning). I don't like the idea of repros of things that look legitimate.....at least with the ones I own they never actually existed so it should be obvious.

[FinalBaton]

nice to know we're seeing things the same way kev. Cheers!

I'll admit that I do have a couple Dreamcast burned games, but they're mostly for stuff that is otherwise unavailable. Like Toodles' Capcom Fighting Games Compilation which features the rare Super Street Fighter II X For Matching Service, AKA the best console SSF2X port ever made. Couldn't live without that!

[evil_ash_xero]

I always try to get the real game...but being able to play everything from one cartridge, or a USB or SD card; is a very attractive option.

I just had my Saturn "Phoebe" modded, and am playing games on it more now than before. Same with Dreamcast (with the USB-GDROM). Maybe I'm just lazy?

But I do like to buy the games I like. For instance, I've been playing Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War and Dragon Force II, with English patches. I still went ahead and bought the physical copies, which will never be played.
But hey...at least it makes it "legal", to own the roms/images. Like I care. No one is losing money on these old games, other than re-sellers. And obviously they aren't losing money from emulation/flash carts anyway. Otherwise, the prices of these games would be going down, not up.

If things keep going in this direction, the only way to play these old games will be thru emulation, flash carts, or CD/GD rom EMUs. How many people have 300 to 1000 dollars to spend on a game? And for some folks, there's really no way to justify paying that kind of price. I'm dedicated, but even I'm not sure if I can get a couple of games on my "wish list". I'm looking at you "Magical Pop'n". I should have bought it when it was around 400 bucks.

[Ex_Mosquito]

I am finding it hard to warrant keeping my Japanese MD games. Ever since I've had my Mega Everdrive I find it so much more convenient just to load a game from a rom list rather than go through the long winded process of swapping a cart over. Sure, the games look great on a shelf but that's pretty much all they're doing... As long as it's on a CRT and original hardware then I'm good.

[Axelay]

I always try to get the real game...but being able to play everything from one cartridge, or a USB or SD card; is a very attractive option.

I just had my Saturn "Phoebe" modded, and am playing games on it more now than before. Same with Dreamcast (with the USB-GDROM). Maybe I'm just lazy?

But I do like to buy the games I like. For instance, I've been playing Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War and Dragon Force II, with English patches. I still went ahead and bought the physical copies, which will never be played.
But hey...at least it makes it "legal", to own the roms/images. Like I care. No one is losing money on these old games, other than re-sellers. And obviously they aren't losing money from emulation/flash carts anyway. Otherwise, the prices of these games would be going down, not up.

If things keep going in this direction, the only way to play these old games will be thru emulation, flash carts, or CD/GD rom EMUs. How many people have 300 to 1000 dollars to spend on a game? And for some folks, there's really no way to justify paying that kind of price. I'm dedicated, but even I'm not sure if I can get a couple of games on my "wish list". I'm looking at you "Magical Pop'n". I should have bought it when it was around 400 bucks.

Dude may I ask about the Saturn mod and how you got a patched copy of dragon force 2 ?
Dragon force 2 is on my to do list. Love the first one

[BrianC]

I use flash carts, but I still purchase physical games, as well.

Ditto. Mainly moving onto collecting select Japanese MD games at this point, because good lord the packaging is beautiful. Even on terrible games sometimes.

Last JP MD game I got complete was Marvel Land. Very nice artwork on that one! Only slightly more than a loose US Marvel Land too! Or maybe much less. Looks like the US game may have just recently shot up, telling from Amazon and eBay (though eBay still has one at the price I saw a few weeks ago).

[Heavy Viper]

Nice, I recently picked up Shining in the Darkness and Vermilion myself. Having grown up and mainly seen Sega Ozisoft's "efforts" at manuals and packaging, I was shocked when I finally got my hands on Japanese copies of the Sonic games. After that, it's really hard to justify picking up anything but NTSC-J. I make exceptions for shmups and other games that are getting a bit pricey, e.g. Fire Shark.

[spmbx]

I realize this will always be a matter of taste, but there are planty of examples where the japanese art is ugly as sin. Sonic being one of them imho. The pal version looks way nicer

[soprano1]

JP cover has that early 90's radical design.

[null1024]

I've always liked the look they went with from Sonic 2 onward on the JP box art. It's still wild and geometric, but it seems to come together more. Sonic 1's JP box isn't the nicest, it's really too much.

in particular, the Sonic Spinball JP cover is absolutely slick:
https://i.imgur.com/RVIcDT9.png

[neorichieb1971]

Is PAL megadrive World of illusion region locked if used on a Genesis 2?

[Heavy Viper]

Just tested my PAL copy, and nope! Plays perfectly at either 50 or 60hz.

[neorichieb1971]

Thanks buddy. Just purchased it.

There seems to be 2 different artworks for it for some reason. I got the nicer one of the two. It should come quickly since the seller is down the road (Bonus).

[Despatche]

The Japanese Sonic boxes were absolutely phenomenal for many years. The European box is just some line art stuffed in the original European/American "grid" template, it's not very interesting. I like the concept of the American boxes, but the artist drew characters funny.

That "grid" template really bugs me when I look at the full art going on in all the Japanese boxes.

[neorichieb1971]

Earlier in this thread I posted a video of a guy who took a Tengen Genesis cart and switched the main ROM to a donor PCB.

So I got a cheap Formula 1 game for £2 (Was the PAL megadrive version) and got my manager at work to switch the Gauntlet IV ROM into the F1 PCB. It worked 1st time and I played it for 2.5 hours straight. Not a single crash, blip or anything. Works perfectly.

In contrast with the old PCB I got about 6 minutes and it would crash. The record was 45 minutes after cleaning it with lens fluid for 15 minutes.


So if you have a bad Tengen cart I can tell you that the green PCB is most likely the faulty part.

The video I used that inspired me to try this is here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoYOfdjrC6I

and a list of compatible donor carts is in the notes of the video.

[neorichieb1971]

Can anyone please report if there are any issues playing Bio Hazard Battle PAL megadrive cart on a Genesis?

Its one of the shmups I don't have and its pretty cheap.

[Heavy Viper]

...Bio Hazard Battle PAL megadrive cart on a Genesis?

Looks like BHB comes in two flavours - NIPPON ONLY and "rest of world". Whether you get a PAL or NTSC-U copy, you should be fine.